Mare bagging up really early!

[hrfponies]

I was checking my mare today when I was brushing her and he udders seem very enlarged (This will be her second foal). She also had little crusts on the ends of them. She is due in May and is very large already and is carrying very low. Should I call the vet out?? Could it maybe Placentitis? She doesn't have any discharge or any other symptoms. Has anyone else experienced this??

[LoveMyArabians]

I did experience this once... started mare on SMZ's, she held on to her due date but did have a red bag delivery but foal was fine... thank goodness!

Probably call your vet...

Best of luck,
Cindy

[Sugarbrook]

Call the vet. Not right. Ck it out.

[Signature]

Please call the vet right away. This is not normal... we had a mare show slight enlargement but then it went down in 24 hours last year and we did not check her; turned out she had placentitis and the baby was born septic and was rushed to the vet hospital and several $k's later we lost him. It would have been well worth the $100 to check.

It could also be a sign of impending abortion of twins. Was she ultrasounded at 30 days or later? We just had a mare abort undetected twins even with multiple ultrasounds which was a huge shock. Either way, I would have her checked VERY soon and ultrasounded for placental thickness. We had a slight scare already this year with a mare with not much bag but had white milk. Of course we're paranoid at this point... so vet came out straight away and we u/s, palpated, drew blood to run and started her on placentitis protocol. In the end we think that she just hasn't dried up after her 3rd foal in a row... There was nothing on the bloodwork or u/s nor palpation to indicate a problem, so we're crossing our fingers and hoping it was just erring on the safe side.

From now on we always have something checked if we think "that's weird"... :yes:

[Hillside H Ranch]

Have your vet out ASAP. Your vet can ultrasound your mare to check for twins or to measure the placental thickness to determine if she has placentitis. You can also have bloodwork run to check estrones and progesterones which will tell you if the pregnancy is proceeding normally or if the fetus is showing "fetal stress". I had a mare with placentitis last year and the bloodwork was wonderful to run (with multiple ultrasounds) to find out what kind of prognosis we were looking at and whether our treatments were working.

This link talks about diagnostic bloodwork: http://www.betlabs.com/pubs/ENDOCRINE%20DIAGNOSTICS%20IN%20.doc

[hrfponies]

I am going to call the vet this morning!! Keep your fingers crossed!!

[Windswept Stable]

Jingles for your mare. Keep us updated.

[alliekat]

Fingers crossed for you. I hope everything turns out fine.

[Sundown Farm]

I also have 2 (just sent a 3rd one, who is a boarder home) mares who have constant fluid in their teats.. Most are 16yrs or older, but 1 has done this since having her first foal.. The others foal numbers ranged.

[quicksilverponies]

Good luck Tiffany - keep us posted. Could be plancentitis. I have an older mare - now retired from breeding that would bag up way to early. She had to be kept on Regumate and SMZs until foaling and she still went a bit early, but the foals were fine. On the last pregnancy she began streaming milk about 3 to 4 days before foaling and lost much of her colostrum. The filly foal's IGG was marginal so we tubed her and supplemented colostrum - luckily she was fine, but after that, we retired the mare from breeding.

[Tasker]

Good luck! I hope nothing is amiss!

[Home Again Farm]

Jingling that all will be well. I had one like that in 1999 that turned out to be undiagnosed twins. Please let us know how it goes.

[hrfponies]

The vet came out this morning, and we did an ultrasound and he said from what he can see her placenta looks fine. He agreed she is very large for 7 months and has a large bag already (So I am not going crazy!) So for now, to be on the safe side, she is on SMZ's and Regumate.

The vet had checked her for twins early on in her pregnancy... but hopefully it wasn't missed and now missed again!!! She did have twins last year and we pinched one and ended up with a healthy colt!!

Thank you everyone for your cares and prayers!!

Tiffany

[quicksilverponies]

Sounds like you are doing all you can at this point - hope all goes well - she should be fine since you were on top of things. I hope it's not twins too - good luck!!

[Home Again Farm]

When my mare had the twins in 1999, we did a trans abdominal US at our local vet school with a high powered US machine. That clearly showed twins of equal size (they meausre the orbital bone to figure size). One was in each horn. I opted to abort the mare at the vet school for her own safety. She had been checked for twins repeatedly in early pregnancy. The vet missed the twins on those earlier ultrasounds. Unfortunately, it happens.

If the placenta looks normal, I'd be very concerned about twins with a mare with a large udder at 7 months gestation. Good luck with your mare.

[aspenlucas]

I too had this happen around 7-8 months a few years back. Vet missed the twins. We did the SMZs and Regumate. Mare held on about 1 1/2 weeks and I went to the barn one morning and she had dead twins in her stall. The only set of twins vet has ever missed. I was sad but was very happy the mare was ok. She ended up retaining her placenta for about 3 days however. Had her at the vet clinic the morning she retained it so she could be flushed 2-4 times a day. Sort of ticked me off I had to pay for all of that for missed twins, but such is life.

[LoveMyArabians]

The vet came out this morning, and we did an ultrasound and he said from what he can see her placenta looks fine. He agreed she is very large for 7 months and has a large bag already (So I am not going crazy!) So for now, to be on the safe side, she is on SMZ's and Regumate.

The vet had checked her for twins early on in her pregnancy... but hopefully it wasn't missed and now missed again!!! She did have twins last year and we pinched one and ended up with a healthy colt!!

Thank you everyone for your cares and prayers!!

Tiffany

From what I have been told from a longtime breeder... mares can pick up a form of strep or other small infection in the uterus, this can cause the early signs of pending delivery and loss of foal without intervention (thus the SMZ's)... I had my mare flushed after delivery (even without my vets blessings, had to force him to do it)... just an FYI.

Cindy

[nsm]

Sending jingles and good wishes for your mare-

Nancy

[stoicfish]

This might be in another thread but how did this work out for you Hrfponies?

[hrfponies]

Actually, no problems other then she foaled almost 3 weeks early without many signs! 20 minutes after her big sis!!!:lol:

[stoicfish]

Congruadulation! So she was about 320 then?